The ISO Celebrated 2012 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM)

A large number of Carnegie Mellon University community members are familiar with Google Doc, Picasa, Flicker Google Drive, Gmail and Dropbox and many other cloud computing services. These online applications provide the user with the capability to use, store and access document, pictures and music online from any computing device and at any location with access to the Internet. But, are these applications secure, and is your data protected?

During the National Cybersecurity Awarneness Month this October, the ISO saught to answer the above questions among many others, in an effort to raise awareness on how to use cloud services securely. Whether through the distribution of material or presentations, or through its 2011 guidance on the use of Gmail and Dropbox, the ISO continues to provide university community members with information about securing personal and institutional data in the cloud.

The Information Security Office (ISO) conducted training on security topics during the month of October for all university affiliates, including Introduction to Identity Finder and Security 101. Introduction to Identity Finder is a 90-minute class where you'll get hands-on instruction on how to use the Identity Finder software to find and secure information on your computer that could make you, or others vulnerable.  Security 101 covers the university's data protection guidelines, data breach procedures and recommended security practices. A number of presentations on Cloud Computing are offered to the university IT staff during October Departmental Computing Forum (DCF).

Registration for the ISO training events was through HR L&D at  http://www.cmu.edu/iso/events/events/index.html

Mobile devices are small computers with capabilities allowing users to stay connected at all times.  As a user, you may not be aware that your mobile device is insecure unless you apply a few security measures.   Symantec 2012 Internet Security Threat Report,  highlighted a rise of 315 in mobile vulnerabilities in 2011.  Prof. Norman Sadeh's 2010 presentation on Mobile Device Privacy provides you with information on how to protect your sensitive data and privacy while enjoying the use of your favorite mobile device.

To learn more, view the Mobile Device Privacy video at http://www.cmu.edu/iso/events/index.html

EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology, recently released the 2011 Information Security Awareness video contest winners on YouTube.  View the winning contest videos from 2011, 2009, 2007 and 2006 available at http://www.youtube.com/user/SecurityVideoContest. 

The EDUCAUSE and Internet2 Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC) is conducting its fifth international contest in search of short information security awareness video and posters by college students, for college students. The videos and posters will be featured on the EDUCAUSE website and may be used in campus security awareness campaigns.

Submission Deadline is Friday, March 8, 2013. Winners will be notified in April 2013, and will receive cash prizes. The ISO encourages Carnegie Mellon students to participate in the EDUCAUSE 2013 video & poster Contest. For information on entry requirements and guidelines, please visit the EDUCAUSE webpage on Information Security Awareness Video & Poster Contest.

More information:http://www.cmu.edu/iso/aware/phil/index.html

Help Phyllis teach her school of fish how to avoid phishing traps in fraudulent emails.  This interactive game will teach you how to verify the information presented to you rather than trust easily forged email features such as logos or URLs to decide if a message is fraudulent or not. 

To access Anti-Phishing Phyllis, please visit http://www.cmu.edu/iso/aware/phyllis/index.html

The Carnegie Cyber Academy is the Internet home of the Carnegie Cadets. On this very special site, children and teens can play some excellent mini games, read stories about the Carnegie Cadets. As they get all the nail-biting, breathtaking details about the heroes and villains of cyberspace, they'll look forward to meeting up with the characters in The MySecureCyberspace Game, a free download from the site. You and your kids are invited to join the cadets at the Carnegie Cyber Academy.

More information:http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/

Cylab offers valuable seminars on security and privacy during the month of October which are open to faculty, students, staff and the general public. All seminars start at noon ET and are held in the CIC building. Among a number of seminars are the Collaborative Distributed Inferencing - Rules Based Control of Data by Christopher Burgess, the Operating system framed in case of mistaken identity: Measuring the success of web-based attacks on OS password-entry dialogs by Prof. Lorrie Cranor.

More information:http://www.cylab.cmu.edu/news_events/events/index.html

Right now, social security numbers, credit cards, bank accounts, passwords, and other highly sensitive personal information are sitting idly on your computer leaving you and your family exposed to identity theft. You may not be able to find all the places it's hidden, but hackers and thieves know where to look.They have developed viruses, spyware, back doors and other malicious code to steal this information.

Anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-spam don't offer in-depth searching to protect you and your family. Identity Finder goes deep, searching the computer to locate and secure potentially dangerous data - even when you don't know it exists.

More information:http://www.cmu.edu/computing/security/idfinder/index.html

BeSeen is a free mobile app that simulates a social networking website. Once you create a profile, you can start earning friends, playing puzzles and winning awards. The game is provided by Carnegie Mellon University and Web Wise Kids to show you how to secure your personal information, protect your online reputation and defend your peers. It is available for iOS and Android. 

More information: http://www.playbeseen.com

MySecureCyberspace is the network security portal designed just for you, so you can protect yourself and your computer. Whether you are new to computers or a technological expert, MySecureCyberspace has something for you.  If you are a beginner, the articles can walk you through the simple steps you can take to secure your computer. And if your knowledge of network security is more advanced, we provide articles that explore trends in security issues and defenses.

More information: https://www.mysecurecyberspace.com/